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Creating a business plan is one of the most valuable activities you can undertake.
Although it takes time, research, analysis and energy – business planning is a valuable process that will give you direction, confidence and resilience.
Read on to find out three powerful ways a business plan can help you succeed.
1) A business plan can help you secure finance
If you’re seeking finance for your business, you’ll need to show banks and investors why they should invest in your business.
Lenders and investors will only risk their time and money if they’re confident that your business will be successful and profitable.
A thorough and well-researched business plan:
- shows that you’re serious about your business
- helps lenders and investors to understand your business idea
- shows your predicted profits and income streams.
Check out our business finances information for more on how to secure finance for your business.
2) A business plan helps you to prioritise and maximise your efforts
Preparing a business plan will help you work out what your goals are and strategies to achieve them.
This means you can focus your resources and energy on what you need to do, rather than spreading yourself too thin.
The planning process also helps you to consider possible bumps in the road and put a plan in place to better manage them if they do come up.
Once you’ve got a business plan in place, it’s a good idea to regularly review and update it to:
- remind yourself of your goals and priorities
- assess whether your strategies are working
- adapt to any new changes in your environment
- make the most of new opportunities as they come your way.
3) A business plan helps to gives you a sense of control over your business
Going through the planning process can give you a real sense of control over your business and your future.
It helps you to put down on paper many of the ideas, risks and questions that business owners constantly think about, including:
- Who are my competitors and what is my place in the market?
- Who is my ideal customer and how can I best serve them?
- What are my financial objectives and how will I achieve them?
- What are the potential opportunities that I can take advantage of?
- What are the threats to my business and how can manage them?
- What are my strengths and how can I minimise my weaknesses?
So instead of worrying about the future, you can more confidently ‘get on’ with business knowing that have a plan in place to achieve your goals, adapt to change and deal with obstacles that come your way.
Start your plan now
Check out our Business plan template and guide to start your business plan today.
What to do…
- Check out our How to write a business plan page for more tips and guidance.
- See our Business finances topic to learn more about managing your finances.
- Visit our Conduct market research page to find out how market research can help to inform your business plan.